Reflections
by Blac-Vlvtn
Summary: You didn't think it was possible, but this is the sequel to Lily of the Black Rose. Revived by Isis because my friend thought the ending was too sad, Lily does her best to return to her normal life. But, that might be a little difficult when a boy named H


Reflections

By: Inu

For Max, who made me write this in the first place.

A/N: Don't kill me if it turns out random details stated in this fic are not congruous with the _Yu-Gi-Oh_ series. Like it really matters if the Ryou's have a hot tub or not…

Misti Ryou was probably the most miserable girl in the world as she sat in the hot tub behind her house. This tub was her main way of unwinding and relaxing. Right now, she needed it more than ever. Her best friend, Lily Kaiba, had recently committed suicide by jumping off of Domino Bridge. Misti had returned from her funeral just hours ago.

Suddenly, the bubbles turned on in the hot tub and Misti knew her twin brother, Bakura was about to join her. Bakura always had to have the bubbles on if he was going to get in that tub, so Misti didn't need to use her psychic powers to know he was coming. Sure enough, a few moments later, her brother who sat on the other side of the tub, facing her, joined Misti.

"I'm really sorry about what happened to Lily," he said. "I didn't know her very well, but you did. Her life and death are both going to have a lasting impression on all of us."

Misti looked down at the once calm water and saw her own reflection looking back up. At this moment, Misti regretted going out of her way to annoy Bakura. All she had ever wanted was to make him mad, and here he was, trying to comfort her.

"I'm going to miss her like I would miss you," she said, looking back up at her brother. "When I saw her in the casket, I just wanted to turn and run. I wanted to wake her up and tell her I was mad at her for leaving me. I wanted to return her life to her. There were so many thoughts going through my head that I didn't know which ones were right or which ones were even mine. Part of me wanted to berate her dead body for leaving us and scarring us forever, but the other part wanted her to suddenly be okay and to tell me that she wasn't really dead." Misti wiped a solitary tear from her face.

Bakura held his arm out, inviting Misti to come sit with him. She gladly moved into the comfort of her twin's embrace. He spoke softly, doing his best to comfort her. "You know, Misti, half the time I felt like it was my fault she died. I thought that if I maybe paid more attention to her and done more to make her life pleasant then maybe my baby sister's best friend wouldn't be dead."

"Baby?" Misti scoffed. "I'm only younger by a few minutes."

"But the point is, I'm still the oldest and I'm supposed to protect you. That includes helping you through tough times like this… and preventing them if possible." Bakura thought about what had happened directly after Lily's death. "I remember after Lily died, Joey e-mailed me. The entire message said was 'Lily jumped.' I knew she was gone, but I couldn't tell you directly because I didn't want to see you like this. Unfortunately, when something like that happens, no one can keep from thinking about it. You probed my mind and heard everything. I can never say I'm sorry enough times."

"Yeah, well I remember you telling me we were going to a nice restaurant, 'so dress nice.' I didn't bother to probe you because I already knew she was dead. Then I saw the funeral procession and noticed that we were following it. _You lied to me about my best friend's death_! Do you know how much that hurts?"

"I realize you must hate me for that. But what else could I do? Can you honestly see me being forthcoming about this sort of thing?"

"Well, for starters, you could have told me the truth," Misti said, angrily. She stood up and turned away from her brother, storming away into the house.

Inside, Misti stalked straight off to her room. The thought that she was still in her swimsuit didn't bother her. She searched the bookshelves and found the discreet little notebook that served as her journal. Although this journal was irregularly kept, the most recent entry wasn't very old. It had been written the day before Lily's death, when Misti only knew that her friend was going to be in huge trouble for kissing Joey Wheeler in her hospital room.

In spite of herself, Misti couldn't suppress a small smile. How simple those times seemed now. The whole entry was filled with frivolous notes and silly gossip. This one would be a tale of life, death, and the truth.

Misti found a pen in her desk drawer and began to write on the first clean page.

Dear Journal,

Looking back in these pages, I realize how much time has gone by. In just a few days, I change from a silly gossiper to a nostalgic teenager, who wishes she didn't have a twin.

The day after my last entry, this perfect world I lived in was destroyed. Lily jumped from Domino Bridge. Just when I thought things might go right for her, she took her own life. I don't know who's to blame for this. Was it her father, who never seemed to care for her quite enough? Could it have been that stupid chauffer of theirs who had the nerve to fall asleep at the wheel and kill Mr. Kaiba? Both of these are perfectly valid reasons but I can't help thinking I was partly responsible. I don't know why, but for some reason I think that if I had been a better friend to her, she would still be alive.

Bakura isn't helping much either. He's trying to help me but I just keep thinking about how he betrayed my trust.

As Misti sat writing, someone knocked on her door. Misti tossed her towel back over her body and opened the door. A boy was standing on the other side that Misti had never met.

"I know this is kind of weird," said the boy. "But I knew Lily."

"Come on in," said Misti as she opened the door. As the boy walked past her into the room, Misti caught a faint scent of chocolate. "You can sit on the bed, I guess," said Misti, gesturing towards her bunk bed.

The boy sat down on the bottom bunk and Misti opposite him in her computer chair. The boy had blonde hair and brown eyes with gold specks. "My name's Orion," he said. "I was a friend of Lily's at the orphanage where she used to live. I know you've been beating yourself up for Lily's suicide, but it wasn't your fault. A big part of it was because of me. I left her as a friend the day before she did what she did. And now she's gone. If you're going to blame anyone for Lily's actions, blame me."

At school a few days later, Misti caught up with Joey in the halls.

"Joey, I want to thank you," she said.

"What for? I can't help anyone I care about. I needed Yugi's help to save my own sister and my girlfriend left in a big way."

"I want to thank you for Lily's last few days with us. You made them the happiest she's ever had. Trust me, I know."

Just then, Yugi ran over to the two of them. "Misti, Joey, I found a way to bring Lily back!" he said, out of breath.

"What?" Misti said. She couldn't believe it! Bring her best friend back to life?

"Yuge, you've gotta be crazy or something!" Joey exclaimed. "How could we possibly bring her back?"

"Lily had a Millennium Item," Yugi explained, showing them the charm that he had found under the door on Lily's last day. "Its power can revive people! Bring them back from the after life! If we go to Lily's grave, Isis can bring her back!"

"Let's go!" said Misti.

"But, what about school?" Yugi asked. "I'm as excited as you, but we can't skip class!"

"Oh yes we can," replied Misti. "Hold onto my hands, we're teleporting!"

The two boys exchanged looks, but Misti looked so determined, she seemed twice her size. Quite a problem for short little Yugi.

"Whatever," sighed Joey, and took hold of her left hand.

"Fine, let's do it," said Yugi as he grabbed Misti's right hand.

"Domino Cemetery!" called Misti.

The feeling of teleportation was nauseating. As the three of them flew through the swirling tunnel, Joey reached out to touch the edges.

"Don't touch that!" Misti shouted. "What you're seeing is the walls of my mind. If you damage those in any way, the best case scenario would be a drop in my IQ."

The boys kept their hands to themselves after that.

In a few moments they arrived in the cemetery and dropped to the ground with a slight thud. Looking around, all any of them could see was trees and tombstones.

"Yugi, the Pendant," Misti said.

"Right." Yugi fished the Millennium Pendant back out of his pocket. He placed the small charm on the ground next to Lily's grave and said, "Isis, we need you now."

Joey and Misti watched in amazement as a ghostly spirit appeared over the gold charm. She faced Yugi.

"What do you want now?"

"She's so much like Lily, isn't she?" Joey whispered to Misti.

"Just remember, Lily's the living one. Or at least she will be in a little bit," Misti reminded him.

"We need you to revive Lily," Yugi told the spirit. "Her grave is right behind you."

Isis turned and quickly read the dates on the tombstone. "She only died a few days ago. This should be easy." She waved her hands dramatically and chanted a spell in the ancient Egyptian language. Suddenly the tombstone cracked and the ground parted. Lily rose from the grave in her favorite ditching clothes, a black halter-top and black cargo jeans.

She brushed some dirt off her shoulder and turned around. Then she caught sight of Joey.

If this were a movie, the two lovers would have been running in slow motion and the sun would have been setting behind them. As it was, they were running full force in broad daylight. Their embrace was even tighter than that of their first kiss. To anyone just passing by it would just look like a couple of happy kids in a graveyard, but to Lily and Joey it was as if Lily had been away for 30 years.

"I can't believe it, I'm back," Lily breathed, resting her head on Joey's shoulder. Her voice was hoarse as though it hadn't been used in a long time. Both of them cried tears of joy.

The next day Lily went alone to visit her father's grave. She had never imagined that the day of his death would come so soon, but here she was. She sat on the ground in front of the tombstone and hugged her knees, tears rolling silently down her face. Lily laughed at herself quietly. More tears, she was going to have to learn to control the waterworks. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into Joey's face. He sat down next to her and held her close.

"I won't pretend your dad wasn't a jerk sometimes, but I hate seeing you like this," he said. "The Lily I know is a strong girl."

Lily closed her eyes and said, "I wish he were still alive though. He was the only father I knew, and I want him back" She rested her head on Joey's shoulder and cried. One of the tears rolled down his arm and fell on top of the grave. The two stood quickly as the spot where the tear had fallen began emitting blue sparks where Lily's love and Joey's care were working one of the strongest kinds of magic. Soon there was a whirlwind of blue sparks spinning rapidly in a tight circle above the grave. Suddenly it all just stopped and there was Kaiba standing on top of the dirt.

It took about a week for the people of Domino to accept that Seto and Lily had returned. It wasn't long however, before Lily had settled back into her role of troublemaker at school. Things were back to normal at Domino High, but with one important difference: Lily Kaiba was no longer a loner. Although she still gave the staff and faculty hell, it was only defensively. Could she help it when she felt threatened?

Seto's so-called co-workers didn't see much of a change in him though. His stubborn mind refused to believe all that had happened to him. He did, however, notice that there was a new employee working very close to the top of his company. He first saw her in the lounge during her break, chatting happily with a few other employees. The others stiffened when they noticed him enter, almost fearing him with his "Big Bad Wolf" reputation. This new girl, however, had obviously not heard the stories yet, because she blinked a few times, confused, when the conversation abruptly stopped.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked, her voice showing a trace of an accent. She turned around and saw Seto, but instead of falling silent like he had expected her to, she smiled and stood up. She walked over to him, and said, very friendly, "You must be Mr. Kaiba." She put out a hand to shake, and Seto took it, amazed that she wasn't intimidated. She was either very brave, or very ignorant. "I've heard a lot about you," she continued in her friendly tones. "My name's Akimi. Nice to meet you." Seto just nodded, unsure of what to do. She dropped his hand and said, now curious, "Nobody ever said anything about you being so quiet."

Seto shook himself mentally and said, "You're not from around here, are you? Who hired you?"

Akimi laughed a little and said, "I guess you heard my accent. You're right, I'm from Osaka. And if you must know, I believe it was your younger brother Mokuba who hired me. Cute kid, isn't he? Anyway, he said he was filling in for you while you were away. Where were you?"

Avoiding the question, Seto looked and his watch and feigned a look of surprise as he said, "Look at the time! Break's almost over, I better get back to my office."

"I'll go with you!" Akimi offered, much to his dismay. "My office is right near yours, so I'll be going that way anyway."

"No really," he said. "You go talk to your friends, I'll go on my own." He left immediately, uncomfortably aware of all eyes in the lounge staring at him as he went. He hurried as fast as he could to the elevator without running, hoping to lose the frighteningly cheerful employee.

Meanwhile, back at school, Lily was scratching her initials into her desk in chemistry. It was certainly more interesting than the teacher, who had Lily convinced that he was gay. She didn't particularly care what happened when you mixed what with what, she just wanted the lunch bell to ring. Finally she glanced at the clock and saw that it would ring in about a minute. She stacked her books on top of her desk and sank behind them, hoping that if she hid herself far enough away then perhaps the teacher wouldn't notice if she just snuck away early.

She looked up from her stack again and noticed, to her amusement, that half the class was simply staring at the clock by now, and Joey, who sat next to her, was already opening his lunchbox. Lily laughed slightly at this and shook her head as the bell finally went off and everyone stampeded out of the room, as hungry and as ruthless as starved lions. Everyone but one new boy. Lily noticed him still sitting at his desk, doodling something on his textbook absentmindedly. Curious, she re-entered the classroom to investigate.

"Heya," she said, walking over to him. "What are you waiting around here for? Lunch is that way." She pointed in the general direction of the cafeteria.

He smirked a little and Lily realized that he was quite good-looking. His red hair fell casually down past his shoulders and his eyes were like light blue crystals. "Why bother?" he said, sounding slightly depressed. "It's not like anyone'll miss me and I'm not hungry or anything."

"Well, as of this moment, I'd miss you, so come on," Lily urged, pulling him out of his chair by the upper arm. In doing so, she knocked his chemistry book off the desk, and she saw what he had been doodling. "'Hiroshi'," she said, reading the spiked letters, "Is that your name?"

"Yeah," said Hiroshi. "That's me."

Lily smiled. "I like it," she commented pleasantly. "Come on, let's go, my friends are probably wondering what's happened to me." She turned her back to Hiroshi and began to leave, disgusted at every word that had just come out of her mouth. After all, she had a loner's reputation to uphold, she couldn't go around acting like Téa, who firmly believed that everyone was her friend. When Hiroshi joined her in the hall, Lily felt she had regained her true personality, but didn't trust herself to speak until the daily threats began. As the two of them walked slowly down the hall to food, out of nowhere, a new adversary jumped out at Lily.  
"Jesus Christ!" she screamed, "You just about gave me a heart attack!"

The thug, whoever he was (not that it really mattered), smirked and said, "So that's all you are? A weak little girl! And to think I was actually worried about Lily Kaiba being back."  
Lily's face went immediately into a death glare. "Never _ever_ underestimate me like that," she growled, "And you should also know, for your sake, that I have zero tolerance for anti-feminists like you." She snapped into a fighting stance and nodded at the thug slightly. "Whoever you are, just try me."

He smirked again and rushed at her. Lily almost laughed as he did so and slammed her fist into his gut. "You idiot!" she said, triumphantly, and proceeded to pound him repeatedly until he finally surrendered. "Never let me see your face around here again, ya hear?" she called after him as the thug staggered away, his nose bleeding profusely. Unfortunately, Lily and Hiroshi hadn't gone twenty feet before they met the thug's gang.

"What'd you do to him?" the biggest one yelled.

"If by him, you mean that pathetic guy who fights like a two-year-old, he's currently in great pain and trying to get away from me as fast as possible. Maybe you should help him."

The gang shot her looks of loathing as they hurried past, coming to the aid of their leader.

"Come on Hiroshi, lunch calls," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking briskly towards the cafeteria.

Hiroshi followed her in amazement. "You were great back there!" he exclaimed. "I could never have done what you just did! Where do you get all your courage?"

Lily laughed a little and said, simply, "It kind of runs in my family."

Hiroshi laughed as well, and then asked, "When I was watching you fight that guy, I got some sudden inspiration. Will you model a picture for me?"

Lily was taken aback by his proposal and said, "Sure, I'll pose for you," before she had really processed his words.

Hiroshi smiled and said, "Great! I'll meet you in the art room after school, okay?"

"Um, okay," Lily agreed, not fully aware of what she had just agreed to. "I'll call my dad and tell him."

Hiroshi went to the lunch line for food, and Lily sat with Joey, Tristan, Yugi, Téa, and Bakura. "Heya peeps," she said, upon arrival. "Your queen is hungry."

"So eat something," Tristan suggested densely.

"I would, pinhead, but I don't have anything. I almost missed the bus this morning. Hey Joey, you got anything good?" she said, peering into his lunchbox.

Joey yanked the lunchbox out of her hands and said, "You're not mooching off me again!"

Lily folded her hands on Joey's shoulder and rested her chin on top of them, staring into his face with big puppy eyes. "I wuv you Joey," she said.

He sighed and pushed some of his food in front of her and asked, frowning slightly, "How'd you get that on your face?" He wiped a bit of blood off her cheek.

"Oh, I didn't realize I made him bleed that badly," she said. "I got into a fight on my way down here."

"How do you do it Lily?" Yugi asked. "Just walking down the hall you take on at least one punk."

Lily smiled innocently and replied, "That's what happens when you have as many enemies as I do. And I didn't even know who this last one was."

Yugi mumbled something under his breath about being amazed, and went back to his lunch.

"So anyway," Joey said, "Who was that guy with you?"

"Oh yeah," Téa interjected, "He was really cute. I think little Joey might be worried about some competition."

"Say that again, Téa?" Joey seethed.

"Now now, children, calm down. I'm not leaving Joey for some guy I've known for all of ten minutes!"

"So you're still coming to the pool hall after school with Misti?" Bakura asked, finally leaning into the conversation.

"After school?" Lily repeated. "Oh shit! I told Hiroshi I'd model for him today!"

Unfortunately, Lily's gay chemistry teacher happened to walk by at that moment and hear her rough language. "Miss Kaiba!" he said, his hands on his hips, "Domino High students can't be allowed to use such language! I'll see you in detention."

Of course, nobody heard him, because at the exact moment he began talking so did Joey. "You told him what? I thought you said you didn't like him and now you're gonna model for him? Model!" By the end of his speech, Joey was screaming so loud the entire cafeteria heard.

"You idiot! Pipe down before everyone starts asking me weird questions about this…" Lily groaned, her head in her hands.

Finally, Hiroshi got back to the table and sat down next to Lily. "Hey wise guy, lay off my girlfriend," Joey grumbled, glaring daggers at the newcomer. Hiroshi looked at him, genuinely confused, but then turned to his food. The whole table ate in silence for the rest of the lunch period.

Lily wandered around the school for a while after the last class ended, not having any idea where the art room was. She drew for her dad all the time to help him design his Duel Monsters holograms, but she'd never had an art lesson in her life. Eventually she turned a corner and saw a sign that said "Art Club" next to a door. Relieved, she opened the door and stepped into… a completely dark room. She grabbed the wall, running her hand up and down its surface, feeling for the light switch. Eventually, her fingers found the cover and slid across the smooth plastic to the switch, which she flicked.

The lights came on instantly, but all that was there was an easel set up next to a stool with a note on it. Lily walked to the stool and picked up the note. It read:

Lily,

It looks like I'll be late for our meeting- if I'm not there by 5, go ahead and go home. I don't want you hanging around here all night. Sorry in advance if I don't make it. I'll explain if and when I get there.

Hiroshi

Lily sighed and sat down on a desk, crumpling the note in her hand. She hated waiting. Luckily for her, she didn't have to sit there for long because just a minute or two later, a red-haired head poked through the art room door. "Hey," Lily said, nodding her head in Hiroshi's direction.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, smiling sweetly and stepping into the room. "I had, er, some business to attend to."

Lily smirked knowingly, if that's possible, and said, "You're lucky I didn't have any scores that needed settling…" she then trailed off, remembering her brief "meeting" with Panik. "Not now anyway."

Hiroshi shook his head, his smile never wavering, and sat on the stool behind the easel. "So… you ready?" he asked her.

"Ready for what exactly?" Lily teased him, turning her head to look at him sideways.

Hiroshi stared at her for a few seconds, oblivious to what she meant, until it finally hit him and his eyes became sky blue tennis balls. "Don't think that way! I was talking about the picture!" Lily could see him blushing before he quickly hid his face behind his easel, apparently completely engrossed in whatever he was doing.

Lily laughed at him for a while, then casually shifted her position into a pose that Hiroshi seemed to like, because when he finally looked up he said, "How long do you think you could hold that?"

Lily shrugged. "Dunno."

A little while later, Lily had moved yet again, and Hiroshi's eraser was running out. "Lily!" he half-barked to her. "Hold still! Just long enough to draw you please?"

Lily looked at her watch yet again. "I'm supposed to be at the pool hall by now…"

"You'd rather stab at balls with sticks than help someone create art?"

"Ignoring how wrong that sounds, yes, actually!" she exclaimed. "At least I get to move around some when I'm shooting pool! All you want me to do is sit on a desk and stare at the back of an easel!"

"I see you're not the artsy type," Hiroshi commented. "I might have to do something about that."

"Yeah, sure thing, Hiro-kun," Lily said sarcastically, already halfway out the door.

Hiroshi sighed, smiled to himself, and began packing his supplies up.

Lily met up with a very impatient-looking Misti. "You're late!" she yelled. "How many fights held you up today, Lily? Five? Ten? Fifteen hundred? I can't understand how you're always doing this! Just showing up whenever… hey, are you listening to me?"

"Actually, no," Lily replied, picking some dirt out from under her fingernails. "Believe it or not I was contributing to the arts, got a bit antsy, and came here."

"Like you were supposed to do an hour ago!"

Lily shrugged, clearly not interested and waved at the bartender, whom she had managed to become good friends with. "Hey Johnny!"

"Hey Lily!" he called back, and waved with a dirty rag in his hand. Lily walked up to the bar and sat at one of the stools, slumping over the counter like a half-dead sloth of some sort. "Misti bitching at you again?"

"Yup," she replied boredly, looking up at her friend through half-closed eyelids.

"What'd you do this time?"

"I was supposed to meet her here about an hour ago, but I kinda told this new kid I'd model some dumb picture for him."

Johnny shook his head and said "And how does Joey feel about that?"

"How do you think?" she responded. "I love Joey to death, but he's just a little bit possessive sometimes."

"A little?" Johnny said. "The only reason he doesn't like me is because I'm a guy and I'm so much better looking than he is."

Lily laughed out loud and said, "I wouldn't count on that!" She then glanced out the window and realized it was pouring. "Oh crap," she sighed. "Can I borrow an umbrella or something?"

"Last time you never gave it back."

"Oh fine, I'll just walk in the rain!"


End file.
